Pistorius's parole bid suffers another setback

South Africa's parole review board on Monday delayed the release of Paralympic Oscar Pistorius from prison.

The move set aside a previous decision to free the athlete who was sentenced to five-star imprisonment for murdering his girl friend Reeva Steenkamp in April 2013.

Judge Lucy Mailula, head of the Parole Review Board, said the initial decision made by the parol board to release Pistorius was "prematurely".

The review board referred the decision back to the parole board.

"The parole review board refers the decision back to the parole board! What does that even mean?!" Pistorius' brother Car Pistorius twitted in a posting.

Under the decision made in June, Pistorius was due to be released on August 21, and serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest.

But two days before Pistorius was release, Justice and Correctional Service Minister Michael Masutha blocked the decision because the decision to do so was made without the right legal basis.

Masutha said the parole board had wrongly taken a decision to release Pistorius on parole before the athlete had served a sixth of his sentence, as required by law.

The minister referred to the decision to the parole review board for review. Pistorius can only be released if the review board upholds the original decision to grant him parole.

On October 21, 2014, Pistorius was sentenced to a five-year imprisonment for capable homicide. He was accused of shooting dead Steenkamp through a closed bathroom door on Valentine's Day in 2013. The athlete said he mistook Steenkamp for a burglar.

It was not immediately clear when a new parole hearing would be held. In September the board met in Durban but postponed the hearing for two weeks.

A spokeswoman for the Pistorius family, Annelise Burgess, said they haven't been officially informed of the new decision of the parole review board.

"We are considering our options until we receive the official communication from the board," she said. Endit